


Holding onto something precious

by Daughter_of_the_TARDIS



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: And we adore him, Does it count as passing the Bechdel Test?, Episode rewrite s09e01: the magicians apprentice, F/M, Female Friendship, Fluff, If they talk about murdering a boy, Innuendo, Missy and River Song are friends, Slight fluff, Spoilers for Episode s09e02: The Witch's Familiar, Twelve is a besotted idiot, also flirting, clara is so done with their shit, cursing, its as terrifying as it sounds, lots of flirting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-19 21:10:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11906277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daughter_of_the_TARDIS/pseuds/Daughter_of_the_TARDIS
Summary: "No, we don't walk away.  But when we're holding onto something precious, we run.  We run and run, fast as we can, and we don't stop running until we are out from under the shadow."The Doctor is missing, and no one can find him.  He is said to be dying.  So where else would he go but home.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was literally crying as I wrote parts of this - maybe it had something to do with it being 3 am by the time I was finished, or maybe its just a sensitive subject, but either way… tears. Everywhere.  
> So anyway, this idea began as I was rewatching The Magician’s Apprentice, and Missy asked the question. Then of course, I started to think of what 12 would do now that we know about the terribly romantic side of him, the one that would do anything to protect his wife in life and still mourns her centuries after her death.

_Question: If the Doctor has one last night to live, if he's certain he's facing the end of his life, where in all of space and time would he want to go?_

The answer, of course, was home. But home for the Doctor was not Gallifrey - it hadn't been Gallifrey for a long time, not since he left it for the first time, all those centuries ago. The TARDIS was home after that, with his family being made up of the various companions he took with him. His roles in their lives varied - he was a friend, a brother, a father-figure… even a romantic partner once or twice. But they were his family for a long time.

Was Earth his home? Maybe. There were times when Earth was his home - his third incarnation had called it home for a long time. It was certainly his adopted planet, but home was something else entirely. Home was where his hearts lay, where he knew that he was always welcome - even if he had been a rubbish idiot just the day before. 

But when he took the time and thought about it, he knew exactly where home was.

Home was a dirt path leading up to a blue front door with a golden knocker and a spare key hidden underneath a clockwork squirrel. It was a slightly overgrown lawn and honeysuckle vines climbing up stone walls. It was a cozy fireplace and a collection of weapons proudly displayed on the wall, surrounded by photographs of family and friends. Home was overstuffed couches, and wooden floors, and nicks in the wood from a Centurion’s sword. It was the smell of jammie dodgers and too-sweet coffee, jasmine perfume, and gunpowder. Home was sunflowers and stained glass, artifacts, and paintings that had been lost centuries ago and never found. 

Of course, that was just the physical bits of the house - that little cottage on the moon that she had always been so proud of. It was the first place that she could really call her own, one with no roommates or bars on the windows. But that little house had been their home together for centuries. Home was more than that, though.

Home was small hands, so delicate yet so deadly, that fit perfectly into his own. It was a mane of wild curls, and blue-green-grey eyes, shifting colors with her moods. It was the mind of a psychopath, but hearts that were bursting with love for the universe. It was a wicked smirk and a sultry voice and the barest whisper of his name. Home was the one person in the universe who knew what it was like - to be bred to do one thing, and then to choose to rebel, and make their own path instead. To do the wrong thing over and over, and then be given a second chance and choose to do what's right. To continuously fight against the darkness in their hearts, and to win. Only to start the fight all over again the very next day.

Home was many things, but above all, home was River Song.

So when he thought he only had one more night left to live, that was where he went.

8888

“We're looking for…” Clara sighed. A party had felt right at first - she had been almost positive that that was where he would go. But something had stopped her from finishing that thought, and it only took her a moment to remember what it was.

_After Danny died, Clara had asked the Doctor a question. Just one._

__

_“If you only had one day left, if you knew you were going to die, what would you do?”_

__

_And then he looked at her, and she almost gasped. His normally bright eyes were dark, and full of pain and sorrow. More than she had ever seen reflected in them before._

__

_“One day?” He asked, and gave a slightly defeated laugh, leaning his head back against the outside of the TARDIS. “If I only had one day left to live… I'd go home and tell my wife that I love her. That I’ve been holding onto that last day, just to say goodbye.”_

“Change of plans.” Clara decided, her fingers hovering over the keyboard. “Kate, I'm going to need an address from you.”

The blonde woman looked confused, and sent a slightly worried glance at Missy, but nodded in the end. “Of course. Just tell me who's it is that you need.”

Clara took a deep breath, unsure of what she was about to do. This would either work out perfectly, or completely backfire on her.

Considering that the Doctor was involved, she had a feeling that it would backfire.

“I need Professor Song’s address.” She said, making sure to keep her voice as even as possible.

Kate blanched, and Clara could practically feel Missy’s curiosity growing. “You need what?” The UNIT Director asked, managing to keep a remarkably straight face.

“I need the Professor’s address, Kate. I know he gave it to you.”

“Sorry, but who are we talking about exactly?” Missy asked from where she hovered over Clara’s shoulder, as Kate Stewart disappeared from the screen. Clara could feel her breathing down her neck, and she shuddered. “Come now, it isn't nice to keep secrets.”

“She’s important to the Doctor, Missy, and that’s all you need to know.” Clara said, her heart racing at just the thought of the two women meeting - the Doctor’s wife, and the Doctor oldest ‘friend’.

Kate reappeared, holding a piece of paper in her hands that she stared at in confusion. “I have it here, but I can’t read it. It’s in Gallifreyan.”

Missy raised a thin eyebrow, but didn’t question it. “Luckily for you, dearies, I can read it.” she said, and with a wink and a kiss blown at the computer screen, Missy attached something to Clara’s wrist and they disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your reviews so far! I love hearing what you all think of my work!!!

They reappeared in a flash of static and light in the middle of a cozy looking bedroom. The walls were a soft green, with bookshelves covered in antique books and trinkets that Clara just knew had come from the Professor's travels. A large, four-poster bed took pride of place in the room, covered in at least ten pillows and a fluffy white comforter.

"You probably want to throw up now." Missy said cheerfully. "Go ahead, pick a spot." she gestured to the items that she had strapped to both of their wrists. "Vortex Maniuplator - yours is slaved to mine. Cheap and nasty time travel." she cackled.

As soon as she got her balance back she got to her feet, just in time to hear a familiar voice from behind her. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just shoot you here.” Professor River Song growled.

“Because it would make a terrible mess of your lovely home.” Missy drawled, and Clara turned to see something that she really should have expected to see - River Song, with a gun in her hand, keeping the muzzle of it pressed against Missy’s brainstem. What she hadn’t expected was for River to be barely dressed, her wild curls loose over her shoulders as she held her silk robe shut with her free hand.

“It wouldn’t be too much trouble to clean up, so I’m afraid you’ll have to come up with a slightly more convincing reason, dear.” River said, her tone light, but something in it promising nothing but pain and death if they didn't listen to every word that she said. She led them out of the bedroom, leading them down the hall and to the living room. 

“How about it would make the Doctor so terribly cross with you?”

“That’s never stopped me in the past.” River retorted, and Clara could see Missy was getting interested. She wanted to know who this woman was - the one who knew the Doctor yet still carried a gun, who the Doctor would come and see on his last night of life.

“Okay, we really don’t have time for this right now.” Clara said, drawing their attention to her. “The Doctor is in trouble, and he’s going to need all three of us for this one. Now are you two going to help or not?”

“The Doctor?” River asked, arching an eyebrow while simultaneously tucking her blaster away. “He's only upstairs, Clara. Although I wouldn't be surprised if the poor sod managed to get himself in trouble.” Now Clara could see Missy’s look of confusion, and couldn't help her smile. It seemed as though she wasn't the only one who was confused when first presented with the Doctor's enigmatic wife.

“You're welcome to go up and find him, dear.” When both women started to go up the stairs, River pulled out her blaster again, keeping it aimed at Missy. “Just Clara, if you don't mind.”

Missy raised an eyebrow. “Actually, I think I do mind, dearie.” she reached into her jacket, rummaging around for a second.

River smirked. “I'm sorry, were you looking for this?” she held up Missy's device, turning it round in her hands before she continued speaking as if Missy hadn't interrupted. “Its nothing personal, but I’d prefer to keep a mad Time Lady in my line of sight. My trigger finger gets ever so tetchy, and I’d hate to have to kill another Time Lord.”

Missy raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. “Another Time Lord? Dear, the only ones left in the Universe are the Doctor and I, and neither of us are dead.”

“He was, at least until my parents convinced me to save him.” River sighed, draping herself over a couch, using the opportunity to tie her kimono so that everything important was covered. “There are days where I wonder why I let them convince me.”

Missy looked intrigued. “How did you do it then? Lasers? Killer androids?” Her eyes lit up with unholy glee as she clapped. “Did you strangle him with that hair?”

“The poison of the Judas tree, actually - although the hair did distract me a bit.”  
A familiar Scottish burr replied. Both women turned to see the Doctor coming down the steps, shrugging on a black jacket overtop of his hoodie as Clara followed along behind him.

“Hello Sweetie.” River grinned, her green eyes twinkling with mischief as she watched her husband approach. “You didn’t tell me that your friends would be stopping by, I would have put something on.”

“Behave.” he warned, and River smirked.

“Or what?” she purred. “You’ll spank me?”

It was the Doctor’s turn to smirk. “I would, but you’d enjoy it too much.” he replied. Neither one of them realized just how close they were to each other until Missy spoke.

“Can you not flirt? I was just telling the puppy how we’re above all that. You’re making me look like a liar.”

“You are a liar.” Clara interjected, and Missy nodded slowly, like she was talking to a toddler.

“Yes, but I’d prefer not to look like one. It makes people anxious.” then she turned to look at the Doctor. “Sorry, but who is she?” the mad time lady stage-whispered the last few words, gesturing at River. She kept one hand up between them, as though that could keep River from seeing what she was doing.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Missy, meet the wife. River, this is Missy.” he asked, settling down on the couch next to his wife. He smiled softly as he looked at her, wrapping an arm around her waist as he sat.

“Seriously?” Missy asked, looking at her oldest friend in shock. “Your wife tried to shoot me?” then she smiled, baring her teeth in a way that was more threatening than it was friendly. “I like her already.”

“Why are you here, Missy?”

Missy glared at him as she reached into her jacket, pulling a gold disc out of it and showing it to him. “Apparently you think you’re going to die tomorrow.” she told him, and River turned pale.

She turned to look at her husband. “That’s a confession dial.” The fear in her eyes died after a second, to be replaced with irritation and grim determination. “Why did you give Missy your confession dial?”

“Seriously?” the Doctor asked, looking at his wife. “That’s the detail you focus on?”

“Hush.” River said, not taking her eyes off of the other psychotic Time Lady in the room. “I’ll deal with the other ones later.”

Clara cut in. “Hang on, how come you know what that is?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

But River just smiled softly, a hint of wickedness in her eyes. “Spoilers.” she said, and her husband groaned, leaning his head back against the sofa.

“I thought we had gotten past that point by now.” 

Missy rolled her eyes. “Honestly, can we skip the flirting?” She waved the confession dial in the air, raising an eyebrow at her old friend. “We’ve got slightly more important things to deal with.”

“Oh yes, that.” the Doctor said, eyeing the golden dial with distaste. “Well, I've got some good news about that.”

“Oh, yeah?” Missy asked, rolling her eyes.

“And what’s that? That you’re not going to die tomorrow?” River added.

But the Doctor merely snorted, shaking his head. “It's still today!”

“Oh, that's very good, sweetie.” River said dryly, looking at her husband in exasperation.

It was at that moment that the doorbell rang.

The Doctor pressed a quick kiss to River’ forehead before getting up from the couch. “I’ll get it.”

“While I’ve got you here.” he could hear his wife saying as he walked towards the door, “I’d love to know if you have any stories about our dear Doctor that you’d be willing to share…”

Fucking hell. He couldn’t help but think to himself. Of course those two would start plotting away.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My plan was to have this done in time for Christmas, but its a bit late. Sorry about that!

He marched down the hallway and pulled open the door, instinctively scowling at whoever was on the other side of it. “Yes, what do you want?” he snapped, not even bothering to look at them. Instead, he strained his ears, trying to hear what his wife and childhood friend were plotting.

He could just make out parts of what they were saying. 

“Tied him up -” “-two of them -” “-massive swotty ego-” “-egotistical idiot-” “-president’s wife-”

He assumed that they were talking about him, but he couldn’t be positive, not really. He was sure that there were loads of other people that they could have been referring to.

“Doctor.” a voice hissed, and he looked up to see Colony Sarff standing in the doorway, his robes hissing softly as he moved side-to-side. His black robes flared out around his feet, rustling in the air that his snakes created as they shifted around. It was almost surreal, seeing such a disgusting thing on his wife’s front step, next to the planter of sunflowers that she had growing.

The Doctor huffed, rolling his eyes. “River!” he called, turning to look over his shoulder in the direction of the living room. “You’ve got a fucking infestation.”

He heard the sound of her bare feet padding down the hallway, and then there was the spicy scent of time as she came up behind him. River wrapped an arm around his waist for a second, studying the snake nest standing on her front porch. Then she smiled, pecking him on the cheek before walking away. “This seems more like a ‘you’ sort of issue, my love. I don’t think the regular pest control will cut it.” she called out, and he couldn't help his small snort of laughter. 

“Doctor.” Colony Sarff hissed, regaining the Time Lord's attention. “Your friends have led me to you. You will come.” 

Clara and Missy came down the hall, both of them curious to see what was going on.

“Says you and whose army?” he asked, showing a lot more bravado than he currently felt. He knew he was going to die, but he also knew something else - there was no way in hell that his wife was going to let him. Which meant that if he wanted to keep her safe, he might end up having to fight her too.

The segments of Sarff’s face turned in different directions, like the coils of a snake. Its robes dropped to the ground, to reveal the large snake that had made up the body of Colony Sarff. Hundreds of smaller snakes slithered in a massive nest around it.

“That is disgusting.” Clara said. Missy nodded in agreement, miming gagging. There was a curious light in her eyes, still wondering about the enigma that was River Song while simultaneously trying to figure out what exactly Colony Sarff was doing here, and trying to keep the Doctor from getting himself killed again.

“Davros, creator of the Daleks, dark lord of Skaro, is dying.” Colony Sarff hissed, writhing in his robes. He was trying to appear ominous and was failing if the way River hadn’t even bothered to stay in the room was any indicator.

“Good riddance.” River called out from their bedroom down the hall. The Doctor couldn't help but roll his eyes in fond exasperation.

“He would speak with you again on the last night of his life.”

“Then you do not touch them.” The Doctor ordered, brows furrowed in anger, a terrifying expression on his face. “You do not harm a single one of them if you want me to come with you, if you want to live. Are we very, very clear?”

Sarff hissed once more before recoiling itself back into it’s humanoid form, pulling its robe up along with it. The hundreds of smaller snakes that had spread out once the robes had fallen came back in, finding their place underneath the black robes once more.

“Are you so dangerous, little man?” Sarff sneered, his voice full of derision. It was obvious what he saw - a middle-aged man who looked like nothing more than a stick insect in the clothes of a retired rock star, and who was overprotective of his wife. There was an obvious sort of panic in his eyes, but the rest of his face was a sort of sneer.

He took a few steps away, not even bothering to look back as he answered. “You want to know how dangerous I am? Davros sent you.” he turned back around, smirking when he noticed that River had come back out into the hallway, having grabbed her gun. She had gotten dressed as well, and it was obvious that she was thinking the same thing that he was just from what she had put on. Jodhpurs and a well-fitted jacket, with a gun holster strapped to her thigh - battle gear. “You know how stupid you are? Huh! You came!”

Sarff hissed, but said nothing.

He put his hands over his mouth, feigning horror. “Is that supposed to frighten me?” the Doctor asked, and River laughed, although she kept her blaster pointed at the man/snake creature.

“Snake nest in a dress.” she quipped, and the Doctor smiled at her before continuing to talk.

“Now, explain, politely.” he said, glaring at the creature in front of him. “Davros is my arch-enemy. Why would I want to talk to him?”

Missy looked at him, her eyes wide. “No, wait, hang on a minute.” she protested, looking at him with an almost hurt expression. “Davros is your arch-enemy now?

The Doctor turned to her, slightly irritated that she was choosing to bring this up now. “Hush!” he scolded, flapping his arms at her before quickly returning his attention to Colony Sarff.

Missy pouted, upset that he was ignoring her. “I'll scratch his eye out.” she muttered under her breath.

Clara rolled her eyes, but River snorted. “I’d be glad to help.” she said seriously, still keeping her gun trained on the creature standing on her porch.

“Can I keep her?” Missy asked, looking like she was actually being serious for once.

The Doctor spared a brief thought for the sort of horror he had just unleashed on himself, allowing River and Missy to meet, before tuning back into what was going on around him.

“Davros knows.” Sarff hissed, looking furious. “Davros remembers.” He pulled out the sonic screwdriver, throwing it to the ground in front of the Doctor. It was rusted and worn, the metal nearly worn through to the circuitry in some places, and the diode at the top was slightly chipped.

All three women stared at it in shock. “That's yours.” Clara said, looking at him in confusion.

The Doctor looked down at the broken old screwdriver, an unreadable expression on his face. “Er, it was.” he admitted after a minute of silence.

“Was?” River asked sharply, studying her husband. Her gun arm wavered slightly, pointing the weapon closer to the floor than to Colony Sarff. “What happened?” The look on her face said that she already had some idea of what was going on.

“I... don't have a screwdriver anymore.” he admitted, his face still a carefully blank mask.

“Ooo.” Missy looked fascinated, and it was obvious that both of the other women wanted to strangle her for the glee she found in the Doctor’s pain. “Never seen that before. Doctor, the look on your face. What is that?”

Clara was the first to identify it. “Shame,” she said. “You're ashamed. Doctor? What have you done?”

There was a moment where he was lost in memory, eyes unfocused and body tense. But it only lasted a minute before he was back.

He ran his hands over his face before taking a few steps forward, out on to the porch where Colony Sarff stood, waiting. “Is your ship in orbit?” he asked, his every move radiating tension.

Missy was the first to react, hurrying after him. “It's a trap.” she said, stating the obvious.

“Prepare yourself for teleport.” Colony Sarff said, the barest edges of a smile tracing over his lips.

“Doctor, listen to me.” Missy begged. “I know traps, traps are my flirting. This is a trap.”

He continued to ignore everything that Missy was telling him. “I am prepared.”

Missy was almost ready to clobber him. “You sent me your confession dial. You threw yourself a three-week party. You know what this is.” She was practically begging at that point, too worried about finally losing her best friend for good to be concerned about appearances.

“Doctor, you cannot do this.” River pleaded, but she refused to take her eye off of Colony Sarff long enough to glare at him.

“I think you’ll find that I can, dear.” he said, refusing to turn around. If he looked behind him he knew he wouldn’t be able to go through with what he needed to do. “Goodbye.” he said to all of them, then whispered, “I love you, River.”


	4. Chapter 4

He turned around, offering his hands. One of the snakes that lived inside of Colony Sarff’s robes pulled away from the rest, slithering up the Doctor’s leg and coiling itself around his wrists.

“Oh no you don't.” River said, her voice deadly calm. “You do not get to go off and die right after you tell me that.”

“Sorry, dear. I should have said it sooner.” he offered, flashing her a half-hearted grin. “But it’s either me or you, and we both know which I’d prefer.”

But it was Clara who spoke up. The tiny brunette took a few steps forward, pushing her way past River. “We're coming with him.” She gestured to Missy and River. “All of us - Missy and River and me.” 

The three women shared a glance before Missy and River nodded, stepping up next to Clara. All of them stood on River’s front porch now. The small part of the Doctor’s brain that wasn’t consumed by blind panic wondered if any of the neighbours were curious as to what was going on. 

“No! No, no, no.” The Doctor shouted, shaking his head as if that would help further his point. “Under no circumstances! What are you doing now?”

“Voting.” Sarff hissed. The creature almost seemed to be amused by what was going on. “We are a democracy. It is agreed.” 

He could only watch in horror as three more snakes slithered out from under Colony Sarff’s robes, making their way towards the women. He knew that Missy and River could more than take care of themselves, but Clara was different. He owed Clara a duty of care.

“No, no, no!” he began again, trying to argue against the snake colony. “I forbid it, no! No! No! No! No!”

“Husband, shut up.” River snapped, looking infuriated. “When has you forbidding something ever stopped any of us?” she continued, raising an eyebrow at him.

He didn’t have a chance to reply before they all disappeared, teleported to their prison.

8888

The light from the teleport was enough to disorient them for just a moment when they landed. They all stumbled - that is, Clara stumbled. The rest of them had ‘superior Time Lord biology’, which Clara made sure to grumble about as loudly as she could until Missy threatened to disembowel her with a hatpin.

The ship that they had been transported to was small - about the size of an old-time cargo plane. It was all dull metal, with seats cut out of the walls and the occasional strap to hold people down. A large metal box - Clara wasn't sure what it was for, except that Missy was using it as a footrest - sat in the middle of the floor. The Doctor had sprawled out on the seat next to Missy, and River had tucked herself into his side, her head resting on his shoulder. Colony sat in the pilot seat, studiously ignoring everything that they said as he flew them to wherever it was that they were actually going.

Clara leaned forward, arms still locked behind her back by a snake. She tried not to think about it too much, but the feeling of cool scales against her skin and the ache building in her shoulders kept her from being able to actually forget.

“Davros.” She said, pulling the Doctor's attention away from his wife. “Who is he?”

River shifted so that the Doctor could lean forward. “Davros is the child of war, a war that wouldn't end. A thousand years of fighting, till nobody could remember why. So Davros, he created a new kind of warrior, one that wouldn't bother with that question. A mutant in a tank that would never, ever stop. And they never did.”

“The Daleks?” Clara asked, enthralled by the Doctor’s way with words. This face seemed to be a natural storyteller, more so than any of the other ones that she had met.

“How scared must you be to seal every one of your own kind inside a tank?” He paused, and his expression changed - so slightly that it almost wasn’t even noticeable. But his wife noticed it - she knew all his expressions after centuries of marriage, despite the new face. “Davros made the Daleks, but who made Davros?

“I don’t care how scared they are now.” River growled, shifting closer to her husband. “They’re going to be worse when I’m through with them.” She curled up into his side, resting her head on his shoulder. He nestled his face into her mass of curls, breathing in her scent before pressing a kiss to her head.

“Thank you, my wee protector.” he said dryly, looking at her in exasperated amusement. “But I think I can handle the playground bullies.”

“Really, Grandad?” River teased, contorting her body so that she could look up at him properly. “I could take out all of them by the time you were halfway finished talking.” he began to splutter a reply, but stopped bothering when she pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw.

“You'll have to fight me for the right, dear.” Missy said, still looking pouty since the Doctor said that Davros was his arch enemy. “I’ve got a score to settle with the tin cans.”

“Why don't you just work together?” Clara asked, glaring at them both. She regretted saying anything approximately .5 seconds later, when both women curved their lips into something that was closer to a feral snarl than an actual grin.

There was a loud whooshing sound and they all lurched slightly before slowing down.

“Okay, great.” Missy said quietly, sitting up as she took her feet off of their perch. “Coming out of hyperspace.” 

They watched as a squat space station drew closer. The building was shaped more like a chess pawn than anything else, and was slowly floating through space. The rounded top had a large antenna-like thing sticking out of it, and there were sections of the base that lit up.

“So that's where he ended up.” he whispered, staring at the space station in apprehension. Something about the place gave him a bad feeling, and he pulled River in just a little bit tighter. He knew that she wouldn’t let him go in there without her, much to his dismay. Although, as he looked down at the woman in his arms, he couldn’t help but think that he would much rather go into this with her by his side than alone.

“If you’re done making eyes at the romantic subplot,” Missy said dryly, “Can we get back to your supposed arch enemy now?”

He couldn’t help the slight blush that warmed his face even as River snorted. “Yes, alright.” He muttered, burying his face in her hair.

“What is that?” Clara asked, drawing their attention back to the building.

“I don't know.” he admitted, before guessing, “A hospital?”

“Hopefully a morgue.” River said darkly. “It means less work for me.”

They watched in silence as Colony Sarff landed the ship, docking it with barely a bump. Once there, he opened the hold, leading them out of the ship and onto the space station. The only sounds to be heard was the slight thrum of machinery.  


8888

It didn't take long for them to be escorted to a cell - there was nothing in it but the door that they had entered through and an airlock that Colony Sarff had assured them he would push them out of with no hesitation.

Missy sat on the ground, legs spread out in front of her as she sang a wordless tune that sounded a bit like Snow White. Clara sat next to her, alternating between staring at the madwoman in bemusement and watching the Doctor pace back and forth. River leaned against a nearby wall, playing with the snake that had been wrapped around her wrists. “Sweetie, stop pacing.” she snapped, having finally reached her limit. He listened for a minute, but then started up again.

Clara rolled her head back to stare at the ceiling. “How long have we been waiting?” 

He kept pacing even as he answered her question. “Who knows?” he asked, sounding irritated. “It's always the way with hospitals.” 

“Just relax, Doctor.” River said, leaning her head back against the wall. 

“Relax?” he snorted, rolling his eyes. “Yes, we’re most likely surrounded by Daleks, have not a bloody clue as to what’s going on, but yes! Let’s relax!” he scoffed, turning to face his wife. “Honestly dear, don’t be such a pudding-brained idiot.”

“Oh, for…” she sighed, pushing herself away from the wall. She quickly crossed the room, grabbing a hold of the lapels of his coat and pulling him down to her level. She kissed him thoroughly, not pulling away for a few minutes. He kissed her back as best as he could, attempting to bury his hands in her hair before remembering that they were still chained behind his back.

“There.” River said, smiling smugly as she pulled away. “Better, dear?”

He gaped at her for a moment before his lips quirked up in a smile. “I don’t think so, actually. You might have another go, see if you can get a different result…”

River threw her head back and laughed even as Missy mimed gagging in mock disapproval. Of course, that was the moment when the door opened and Colony Sarff came gliding into the room. Both Missy and Clara climbed to their feet - Missy slouched elegantly against a wall, and Clara moving to stand right behind the Doctor.

He turned his attention to the Doctor first. “You will come.” he turned to the others. “You will stay.”

“Fair enough.” Missy said, and River sent her a nasty look.

“Doctor.” Clara began, stepping forward. “You sent Missy your confession dial.” there was a hint of accusation in her voice that neither of the other women liked.

“Well, we've known each other a long time.” he replied, somewhat defensively. “She's one of my own people.”

But Clara shook her head. “My point is, we both saw her die on Earth, ages ago. And obviously, you knew that wasn't real. Or worse, hoped it wasn't. Either way, I think you've been lying.”

“I'm sorry.” he whispered. He looked at her imploringly, as if begging her to understand.

But she just stared at him cooly. “Don't apologise. Make it up to me.” She smiled triumphantly, head held high. “There, see? Ha. Now you have to come back.”

He didn’t say anything, just stared at her mournfully before allowing Colony Sarff to escort him out of the room.

“Gravity.” the Doctor whispered, shooting his best friend a significant look.

“I know.” Missy hissed back, exaggerating the movements of her mouth. 

“Honestly, husband.” River said, rolling her eyes at Missy. “It’s like he doesn’t trust us.” She turned back to face the Doctor, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Go.”

8888

Missy tap-danced her way across the room, humming under her breath as she did.

“Before we get started on anything else,” River said, glaring at Clara. “Let me make one thing clear. Don’t ever try and guilt the Doctor into doing something ever again. Or I will make sure that you very much regret it.”

She nodded, knowing that it wasn’t an empty threat. “Gravity? What was he talking about, gravity?”

“Oh, yeah. You know what's wrong with the gravity in here?” Missy asked, spinning as she jumped in place.

“No.”

“Nothing.” 

“It's perfect.” River added. “Too perfect.”

“And this is a space station, so the gravity should be artificial, all coppery-smelling round the edges, a tiny bit sexy.” Missy said, before adopting an American accent. “But this feels real, man.” She went back to her normal accent. “Like a planet.” She crossed over to a window, peering out at the stars that surrounded them.

“Oh.” River breathed out, her eyes widening in understanding. 

But Clara had moved onto the next topic already. “How can you and the Doctor be friends?”

“Why shouldn't we be?” Missy replied, her confusion clear in her voice as she whipped her head around to stare at Clara. 

The reason for her confusion wasn’t as clear to the human girl. She explained, “You spend all your time fighting.”

“Exactly.” she replied as if that explained everything. 

“Clara, the Doctor and I spend half of our time fighting.” River explained. “That really doesn't mean anything.”

There was a hissing sound, followed by a sharp crack, and Missy threw the snake that had been binding her wrists to the floor. It was dead.

She moved over to the door, examining both it and the controls. “You know what this airlock is? I'll tell you. It's pants.” she scoffed.

“What do you mean?” Clara asked, taking a wary step backward.

“I mean that today might be the day.” Missy posed dramatically, one hand flung over her face.

“What day?” Clara asked, confused. A feeling of dread washed over her, one that she was intimately familiar with - it was the sort of dread that came with knowing that there was a chance you were about to die.

Missy and River shared a look that had Clara feeling suddenly nervous. It was the same look that the Doctor often wore when he was about to do something that he knew that she wouldn’t approve of, but that he was going to do anyway.

Missy smirked, her icy blue eyes twinkling. “The day I kill you.”

“What are you doing?” Clara was starting to panic. “Are you opening it?”

She looked at the human like she had just dribbled on her shirt. “Yeah, course.”

“Missy, we'll get sucked out!”

“Will we?” River asked, arching an eyebrow. Clara had no idea what to make of this new side of the mysterious Professor - even after all this time, she still knew barely anything about the woman that the Doctor loved. He tended to play his cards close to his chest, no matter how many regenerations she knew. You might know what his favourite food was, how he took his tea, even saved his life several times over. But that didn’t mean you knew anything, really. Not where the Doctor was concerned.

“All of us together, off we go.” Missy said, smiling wickedly and not at all concerned that she might die at any second. “Let's make jam!”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Sorry it took me so long. I'm still not completely happy with it, but I figured that I've made you all wait long enough.

Colony Sarff led him through the space station, swaying slightly from side to side as he made his way down the halls. The Doctor followed a few steps behind him, keeping track of every step that he took, every corridor they turned down. Finally, he saw large wires hanging from the ceiling of the next room that Colony Sarff went into, and knew that they had reached their destination.

He cautiously followed Colony Sarff into the large, well-lit room. Grated portholes were spaced evenly along the walls, and the large pieces of machinery that lined the room were covered in LEDs that glowed blue. The Doctor took a few cautious steps forward, sure that a trap would be sprung at any second.

Davros sat in the middle of the room on a raised platform. His head was propped in his hands, and there was so much medical equipment between the two ancient enemies that they could barely make each other out. The Doctor made his way around the platform until he was finally face-to-face with his arch enemy once again.

“Doctor?” Davros’s voice had always been metallic and slightly grating, but it seemed even worse somehow - almost exhausted, like he had to fight to find the energy to say anything at all. Maybe he really was dying this time, the Doctor mused. He tried not to feel too excited at the idea, but it was harder to do than he thought it would be.

“Doctor.” Davros barely croaked the word out, looking pleased that the other nearly immortal being had actually shown up. 

“Davros.” the Doctor whispered in return, trying to keep his voice steady despite how worried he was. Wherever Davros was, there was sure to be Daleks, but he had yet to see a single one anywhere. Something was going on.

“I approve of your new face, Doctor.” he said. His voice was heavy and his breathing was so laboured that it sounded like he had just run for miles. “So much more like mine. Colony Sarff, untie our guest's hands.”

Sarff glided past the Doctor, and the snake that had been curled around his wrists slipped off, joining its brethren in the dark robes of the snake nest. The Doctor shivered - he had seen a lot of things in over two thousand years, but snakes still gave him the creeps.

“You may leave us.” Davros croaked.

Sarff didn’t even bother turning around - he headed out the door with barely a sound. The Doctor only worried a little when he heard the pneumatic hiss of the door closing behind the snake-creature. Now it was just the two of them - the monster who created the Daleks in the first place, and the monster who had stood by and let it happen.

“You came, then.” He didn’t turn around, didn’t look up. Just sat there with his chin propped up on his fist, staring at the floor.

The Doctor shrugged awkwardly, unsure of what he was supposed to say in return. “Clearly.” The longer he was around Davros, the more he became convinced that the mad scientist wasn’t faking anything this time. Davros really was dying.

“Did you suspect a trap?” 

“I still do.” he said in reply. It was probably the most honest non-hostile thing that he had ever said to Davros.

“Then why are you here? Did you miss our conversations?” he taunted. He managed to reach forward slightly, flicking a switch on his wheelchair to activate the screens on the walls.

The Doctor looked over at the wall, a small smirk on his face as he thought about what River would have said if she was there at that moment as the clips began. It was a toss-up between a comment on too much ego for such a small room, or some sort of innuendo about there being too many versions of him and only one of her, and how they should really redo that birthday since it was so much fun the first time around.

A series of clips started playing, the voices of his former faces almost playing over each other as each clip ran. The deep baritone of Teeth & Curls echoed around the room, “ If you had created a virus in your laboratory,” he kept talking, but Cricket Ninny’s smooth voice started talking over him. “I'm not here as your prisoner, Davros…”

One by one, more voices and faces began to appear on the screen, each small glimpse bringing back memories. “Unimaginable power! Unlimited rice pudding!... Everything we saw. Everything we lost...But did you bother to tell anyone they might be eating their own relatives?”

The Doctor groaned - having all of his past selves still stored in his head somewhere was enough of a headache, but having to listen to them as well was enough to drive him fucking mental. “Yes, yes, yes, okay, you've made your point.” He made the circuit around Davros again, still trying to figure out why exactly Davros asked him to come.

But Davros lifted his head for a single second before it rolled back onto his chest. “Have I?” he asked.

That same baritone came through again - the one that reminded him of his sweet Sarah and a mile-long scarf. “If someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you, and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?” 

He darted forward through the tangle of wires and cables, grabbing the switch and turning off the recording. “I get the point.” he hissed, almost desperate to make the other man stop talking.

But Davros wasn’t finished. “Do you know why you came, Doctor?” he asked, each word slow and measured. “You have a sense of duty. Of guilt, perhaps. And certainly of shame.”

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, drawing back slowly like that might keep Davros from seeing him move. “You flatter me.” he said, his voice dark.

“Pity.” Davros drawled. “I intended to accuse.” the Doctor turned, walking away as Davros continued speaking. “I believe that for the ultimate good of the universe, I was right to create the Daleks.”

“You were very wrong.” 

“This is the argument we've had since we met.” 

Now he was beginning to worry. “It ended in the Time War.”

“It survived the Time War.” Davros countered. “But it will end tonight. That is why you are here.”

A grating alarm sounded throughout the hospital, and they turned their attention to the monitor in the wall.

“It seems your friends have gone exploring.” Davros mused. “I told you before that you had created soldiers out of your friends.” The wizened, miserable little troll smirked as best he could with his disgustingly melted face. “What does that make your wife? 

“You leave her out of this.” the Doctor snarled. He took a few steps forward, nearly pushing his way through the maze of wires that surrounded Davros in his effort to get his point across.

“I don’t think so.” Davros said, the closest thing to a smile that he could achieve spreading across his face. “The psychopath, engineered to kill you. Turning the very woman you love into a killing machine -” he paused, letting out a dry, wheezing laugh. “and you have the gall to call me a monster. Imagine what will happen when she meets a creature that has succeeded in the past where she failed. It will be glorious.” he gloated.

8888

The three women stood in the open airlock, staring out at the stars that surrounded them. It was equal parts beautiful and terrifying, and none of them were sure which part would win out. Missy slowly put her arm out, testing the barrier.

“There’s no forcefield keeping the air in, is there?” River asked, sounding resigned. Missy shook her head, waving her arm slowly up and down.

“It's warm, isn't it?” she marveled, then paused. “For deep space, anyway.” she added. Her voice was hushed, as though the sheer vastness of space was sucking away some of her usual bravado.

“What are you doing?” Clara asked nervously. She was hovering a few steps behind the two Time Ladies, watching them the same way she would watch her year eight students - with extreme caution and apprehension.

She took a slow, extremely exaggerated step forward before answering the question. “Treading softly.”

“Be careful, would you?” River hissed. “I don’t fancy having to deal with the eyebrows of doom if anything happens to you.”

“So he does care.” Missy mused, taking a cautious step forward, testing the waters. “I always did wonder.” She took another step, and then another until she appeared to be just standing in the middle of space. She kept one hand on the door frame, posing gracefully as she released each finger until she let go of the door completely.

“What, there's a floor?” Clara asked. River followed Missy out, following the same cautious path outwards.

“No,” Missy said, still looking amazed as she studied the stars beneath her feet. “No, there's ground. This is the ground.”

Clara followed cautiously behind River, and they both watched in fascination as Missy did a little dance, spinning around before taking several steps. 

“We're on a planet.” she turned around, taking in her surroundings as if she expected them to have changed. “And that is not a space station.” she declared, looking at the building in front of her. “That is a building. And the rest of the planet, the whole thing, is invisible.” 

Clara danced around, holding her arms out to the sides as she spun. “That's ridiculous.”

“Well, yes, of course it is.” Missy said matter-of-factly. “I mean, how would you ever find your glasses? Or the little girl's room? And what if you kissed an ugly?” 

“Speaking of kissing,” River interrupted, joining the others. “I hear you made a rather large fool out of the Doctor.”

Missy smiled. “Oh yes, so I did.” she mused, a small smile forming on her face as she turned to look at the curly-haired woman behind her. “Jealous much?”

“Of him or of you?” 

“Can we go back to the invisible planet, thanks?” Clara asked, irritated. She was starting to wish that she had gone with the Doctor instead of staying with the two Time Ladies. At least then the only thing that she would have had to deal with would have been raging narcissist and whatever enemy was facing the Doctor this time.

Here, she had to deal with what she was almost beginning to think was some sort of flirting.

“Sorry, Clara dear.” River said, sounding only slightly apologetic. “Back to the invisible planet.”

“But it can't actually be invisible.” Missy reasoned, stopping to examine her hands. River came closer, wondering exactly what it was that had the mad Time Lady so entranced. Both women stared at the grains of sand that had appeared on Missy’s hands, a strong sense of dread washing over them. “Unless, when you're part of the atmosphere, you start syncing with the spectrum.” she finished quietly.

Clara studied them both, obviously confused but trying to puzzle things out. “Why would anybody hide a whole planet?”

But River and Missy were already looking around as the planet slowly began to fade into view. “That would rather depend on the planet, dear.” Missy said, her voice low.

What they had thought was a space station was revealed to be one of many similarly shaped buildings that dotted the landscape around them. Soon the desert landscape started to be revealed - endless sand with the occasional desert plant. Sand dunes rose and fell, and a city rose up in the distance. The pale purple sky was dotted with clouds, but it was the things floating below the horizon that worried them the most.

“Are those…” River trailed off, not needing to finish her question. She knew the answer just from the sheer amount of fear in Missy’s eyes.

“No.” the Time Lady whispered, looking utterly terrified. Clara ran over to where the others were standing, looking confused.

“They've built it again.” Missy babbled, taking a few tottering steps backward. “They've brought it back. No, no. No!” 

“What? What is it? Where are we?”

“We’re on Skaro.” River breathed the words out, looking as scared as Missy did. That had goosebumps crawling up the brunette human’s arms - whatever was bad enough to scare them terrified her.

“What's Skaro?” Clara asked, looking between them.

“The beginning.” Missy said. It seemed like she had settled into shock of some sort - she wasn’t moving and her voice was wooden. “Where it all started. This is the planet of the Daleks!’

“Correct.” a metallic voice intoned. The trio all turned to see a Dalek slowly rolling over the rocky terrain, keeping its gun trained on them.


	6. Chapter 6

The Doctor stared out the window in growing horror, looking at the expanse of buildings that surrounded them.

“Skaro!” the Doctor shouted.“You've brought me to Skaro.” he whirled around, his eyebrows furrowing together as he glared at the dictator in front of him. The Doctor had faced down the worst of the worst, but nothing terrified him as much as this did. He put as much space between himself and the window as he could, while keeping a fair distance between himself and Davros as well.

“Where does an old man go to die, but with his children?” Davros said listlessly. The smallest hint of a smile crossed his face as he watched the panic and fear spread across his enemy’s face.

“River.” the Doctor whispered, sounding more broken than he had ever been in his life. He had been trying to keep her safe by making sure she stayed behind. Now she was surrounded by Daleks, with Missy by her side… he ran towards the door, knowing that it was useless to try and get past it but needing to do so anyway.

“You cannot help her now, Doctor.” Davros cackled, the mechanical edge to his voice becoming more grating the longer he had to listen to it. The creator of the Daleks expected his enemy to beg for mercy. He expected tears, and pleading, and requests to switch places with his wife, to do anything to save her.

Instead, the Doctor let out a quiet laugh. “Shows what you know.” he scoffed, a manic gleam shining in his eyes as he turned to stare at the other madman in the room. “You just released those two on Skaro. Your precious Daleks will be dead by teatime.” A wide grin spread across his face, and for the first time, Davros looked fully awake… and very nervous.

8888

The women were escorted to the very heart of the Dalek city, being threatened with extermination each time they so much as paused to breathe. Not that either Missy or River really needed to. But Clara did, and Missy liked to tease the Daleks just as much as River liked to threaten them so they moved as slowly as they could without actually getting shot.

Finally they made it to the inner sanctum, with both Missy and River tensing every time a Dalek so much as twitched an eyestalk in their general direction. It only got worse when they reached their final destination - a large white room with different generations of Daleks wheeling around inside.

“The Tardis.” Clara whispered, her voice echoing off of the walls as she noticed the blue box taking up a corner of the room. “How did she get here?”

“Some sort of transmat, most likely.” River mused, keeping her eyes trained on the Daleks that surrounded them. Her hand kept twitching towards the blaster that was strapped to her thigh and hidden under a perception filter. She had no idea what sort of weapons Missy had on her, but she wasn't going to risk anything just yet.

“It has been procured.” a Dalek intoned. A red Dalek, slightly bigger than the others, sat on a raised platform surrounded by several others. A large laser gun was slowly lowered from the ceiling as they watched, aimed in the general direction of the TARDIS.

“Yeah?” Clara sneered. Her voice shook slightly, revealing her false bravado. “Yeah, well, if you're trying to get inside, you can't. Nothing can enter the Tardis.”

“The TARDIS will not be entered.” the Dalek Supreme droned. “The TARDIS will be destroyed.” 

Clara chuckled, the tension in her body easing slightly. The tight fists her hands had curled into loosened slightly even as the other two women grew tenser. “Yeah, well, good luck, because she's indestructible.”

River and Missy shot each other a look, as if trying not to roll their eyes at how obvious the old fella was these days.

In the end, it was Missy who spoke first. “Did the Doctor tell you that? Because you should never believe a man about a vehicle.”

“Especially that man.” River added, her tone as dry as the desert. 

The Doctor whirled on Davros, jittery to the core as he tried to determine what the Daleks plan was. “What are they going to do? Tell me, what?”

“Who can say?” He croaked. “You know what children are like.”

“Daleks!” Missy bellowed, and he turned his attention back to the screen just in time to catch her march her way across the room. “Pay attention!”

“Don't.” he pleaded, praying that she could somehow hear him. “Just don't.” Of course, she couldn’t hear him, so his pleas did nothing at all.

He could see River watching. She looked bored, but her eyes darted around the room as she tried to figure out what exactly Missy was planning. She knew the Time Lady had a plan, but at the moment she wasn't able to see it.

“You know what this is?” Missy asked, waltzing around the room as she pointed back at the TARDIS. “This thing you're about to destroy? I'll tell you!” she walked around the room, making sure that each Dalek had its attention focused solely on her. “It's the dog's unmentionables. And you know all about those, don't you?” 

She bent over, tickling the underside of a Dalekanium ball with the tips of her fingernails.

“This is a TARDIS.” Missy said, weaving between the Daleks. “With this, you can go anywhere, do anything, kill anyone. With this, the Daleks can be more powerful than ever before.” She climbed up a ledge and leaned up against the wall as Clara and River began to edge closer to the door.

He watched in horror as Missy put on her show for the Daleks, drawing them in with her plans of conquering the universe. “You just need one thing.”

“No.” the Doctor said, the words so quiet that even he could barely hear them. “Missy, no!”

“Me.” she said proudly, posing with her arms spread wide. “You need me. A Time Lady, to show you how it works. With this and with me, everything can be yours. And you can burn it all, for ever and ever and ever.” she paused, seeming almost drunk with power at the very thought of it all. Her icy blue eyes sparkled with the imagined flames as she imagined the entire universe burning. Even the Daleks seemed to be hanging onto her every word. “Or would you rather just kill me?

The assembled Daleks turned to look at their leader, as if they were dogs asking for permission to go after a bone. The Doctor knew what the response would be before it even came, but it didn’t do anything to keep him from hoping that things would turn out alright.

“Maximum extermination.” the Dalek Supreme commanded, and the briefest hint of fear crossed Missy’s face before she managed to school her expression.

“Exterminate.” the Daleks chorused. Missy’s eyes widened and her skeleton flashed, and she was gone. Dead, for the final time.

Clara made a break for the door, and she almost made it there before she was hit as well - her body flashing to show her skeleton before she was just gone as well.

He didn’t even have a moment to mourn the loss of his oldest friend and his most recent companion before the Daleks turned their sights on his wife.

He ran away from the screen, moving around the pedestal so that he could see Davros face-to-face. “Please! Please, I'm begging you.” he got down on his knees, clasping his hands in front of him as he begged - he had long since crossed the point of caring about things like dignity. “Please, please. Please, save River.”

He knew exactly what she would be saying if she could hear him - _don’t you dare, Doctor. Don’t you dare beg that monster for anything._ But he didn’t care. He had just lost his two best friends. He wasn’t about to lose his wife as well.

“I gave the Daleks life.” Davros croaked, sounding almost amused. “I do not control them.” 

They all turned to face her, and he felt his hearts simultaneously sink and jump into his throat. His hands trembled as they clenched into fists, and a torrent of emotions ran over him - fear, guilt, utter hatred, complete desperation.

“No.” he whispered, eyes widening. “No, please.” He watched as River faced off against the Daleks - he could practically see her mind whirling as she ran through all of her options.

“See how they play with her.” Davros croaked, sounding all too pleased with how things were turning out. “See how they toy. They want her to run. They need her to run. Do you feel their need, Doctor? Their blood is screaming kill, kill, kill! Hunter and prey, held in the ecstasy of crisis. Is this not life at its purest?"

Before he had a chance to explain to Davros just how wrong he really was, they were interrupted.

“Right.” River said, her voice loud and clear as she took in all of her options. The sound was enough to startle both the Doctor and Davros, pulling the Doctor out of his depression in the process. “Seeing as cooperation didn’t work, let’s try something a bit more my style.” She pulled her blaster out of it’s holster, aiming it at the Dalek Supreme. “Take me to my husband.” But there were too many of them for her to take out without being killed, and they both knew it. The Daleks moved closer, each one keeping its gun arm trained on the dangerous psychopath.

They watched - Davros enthralled, and the Doctor with bated breath - as his wife held a gun against the most feared creatures in the universe.

“Exterminate! Exterminate!” one of the Daleks bellowed.

There was a brief moment where River’s face lit up with emotion, and then she was gone. The woman that had pulled him out of the darkness time after time, who had put his life above hers again and again… who had made him want to explore the universe again. 

And she was gone. Three hundred years of marriage for her, and over a thousand for him… and all ended in the space between two heartsbeats.

There was a strange ringing noise in his ears, and everything seemed to be slightly out of focus. There was a strange feeling settling in his chest, the likes of which he hadn’t felt in centuries - complete and utter despair.

“Why have I ever let you live?” the Doctor asked, his voice as haggard as his expression.

“Compassion, Doctor.” Davros explained, sounding far too smug. “It has always been your greatest indulgence. Let this be my final victory. Let me hear you say it, just once. Compassion is wrong.”

“Compassion is the only thing that is keeping you alive.” the Doctor replied softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we've reached the end of the Magician's Apprentice... I left that last bit of the episode with the TARDIS being destroyed and the paradox out because I'm still not quite sure how that worked???? If someone is willing to explain it to me, then I will gladly work it in :) Next up, The Witch's Familiar!


	7. Chapter 7

Clara snapped awake. She wasn't sure what had made her fall asleep in the first place, but she quickly remembered everything that had happened.

It took her a moment to place where she was -she was dangling upside down with her arms tied to her sides and her legs tied together. She spun around slowly, trying to take in her surroundings without getting too dizzy.

It took her a moment to get her bearings back, and that was when she noticed the others. Missy was sitting on top of a pile of rocks, sharpening a stick as she tanned under the desert sun. River sat next to her, PDA in hand as she tapped away at something.

“Oh good, you're awake.” She said, sounding ridiculously relieved. “Now Missy can stop bugging me about this bloody story of hers and tell it to you instead.”

Missy rolled her eyes, but started talking anyway. “Consider the Doctor.” she said, keeping her voice light and airy; her eyes trained on the stick in her hands. “The Doctor, trapped. The Doctor, alone.” She looked over at Clara, smiling gently. “You alright there, dear?”

“Where are we?” the human asked, trying to get her bearings. “How did we-?”

‘Shh, now. Mummy's talking.” Missy chided. “Okay, I'm going to tell you a story of the Doctor. It's classic. On the run, no TARDIS. No friends, no help.”. She could hear the scrape of the blade against the wood with each movement that Missy made.

“In other words, the Doctor, happy.” River muttered under her breath. The woman looked furious in the same way the Doctor did - like she would stop at nothing until things were set right again.

“It was a long time ago.” Missy continued, sending River a sharp look, even though she seemed to agree with the archaeologist's assessment.

The chaotic Time Lady seemed to be almost lost in nostalgia, and Clara was suddenly reminded of how she had claimed to be the Doctor’s oldest and best friend. “Doesn't matter which face he was wearing, they're all the Doctor to me.” she said, almost softly. “So let's give it to the eyebrows.”

“But the Daleks -” Clara began. Her memory of what exactly had happened was still a tiny bit hazy, but she was sure she remembered being exterminated. First Missy, and then she had tried to run, and then… nothing.

“Yes, I'm coming to that.” Missy replied, her voice becoming slightly harder, losing it's airy tone completely.

River looked up from whatever she was doing for the barest moment. “Don’t worry, they won’t be able to find us out here.” she reassured.

”Excellent news.” Clara replied, still feeling a lot more nervous then she sounded. “Shouldn't we be… um, I don't want to say dead.”

“Hush!” Missy chided, pointing the knife at Clara. “He's travelling by teleporter. Unfortunately, his teleporter is out of power. Also unfortunate, he's being stalked by, oh, say about fifty android assassins? I may be rounding up.” 

She checked her sharpened stick, pressing the point against her skin and wincing slightly when it almost broke her skin.

“Ow.” She remarked, then went back to the story. “Fifty invisible, indestructible android assassins, all exclusively programmed to kill him.”

“Why are they all programmed to kill him exclusively?” River asked, looking at Missy questioningly. She had taken off her jacket at some point while Clara was unconscious and tied up her hair, leaving her in a vest top and jodhpurs with the bottoms tucked into her boots.

“Because I got bored.” Missy sniffed. “And how else was I supposed to program them?”

But Clara had something else on her mind.“Different question. Why are you sharpening that stick?” she attempted to point at the stick in question, only to be abruptly reminded that her hands were tied behind her back.

“Well, I've no idea how long we're going to be stuck out here.” Missy said coyly, looking up through her lashes at the hog-tied brunette. “Might have to go hunting.”

“So why am I tied up?” She asked. She closed her eyes for a moment, fighting against a wave of nausea that threatened to overtake her before she opened them again.

“In case there's nothing to hunt.” Missy said, smiling. She gave an exaggerated wink before turning back to her stick and her story.

“Don't be ridiculous.” River scoffed, rolling her eyes. “I'm sure we could find something. It might take awhile, but we could find something.”

Missy pouted but quickly returned to the story she was telling. “The Doctor, then. Surrounded. Outnumbered. Outgunned.” she said dramatically. “And freeze. Nanoseconds to live. Four, I'd say, being generous.” She got up from her seat and River put down her PDA for a moment, watching the Time Lady carefully as she approached the hog-tied human. “Now, my question is this. How. Did he. Survive?”

She prodded Clara with the pointy end of her stick, making her wince slightly at the feeling of the wooden object being shoved into her ribs.

“Oh, come on, Clara!” She goaded. “You know him. Consider the Doctor.”

Clara closed her eyes, thinking things through. She ran over the story, again and again, picking out different details until she found the one that she needed. The blood pooling in her head made it slightly harder to think, but eventually, she came up with something.

She smiled. “Where did he get that teleport thingy?”

“Oh, good, good.” Missy sais, sharing a look with River. “He stole one from an android.”. River let out a small sound of understanding, and Missy looked almost impressed that the other woman had figured it out already. That impressed look quickly turned into a pout when she picked up the PDA again, returning to whatever she was doing.

“So, I'm guessing he uses the same energy as the android weapons, right?” Clara asked, drawing the attention back to herself.

“Excellent!” Missy praised. “Not seeing you as sandwiches now.”

“Okay, then.” Clara said, beginning to piece everything together. “He uses the energy wave from the android weapons to recharge the teleport bracelet and at the exact moment he's supposed to disintegrate -”

“He actually teleports.” River finished, looking both proud of her husband and exasperated that he had managed to get himself into such ridiculous situations in the first place.

“Hang on, that's how you did it.” Clara realized, looking impressed. “That's how we escaped the Daleks.”

“I modified the same principle for our vortex manipulators, yes. Blew them off, I'm afraid.” Missy’s skirts swished out around her as she paced back and forth. “But the Doctor, he... he improvised it.” She admitted. Her arms waved madly in the air as she talked. “He must have got through several thousand calculations in the time it takes to fire up a disintegrator. Seriously,” she raged, completely exasperated. “what a swot!” 

River made a small sound in her throat that could have been either agreement or disapproval even as she continued tapping away at the screen of her PDA. 

“So the androids think he's dead and the Doctor escapes.” Clara finished. She looked almost awed by it all, like she couldn't 

Missy rolled her eyes, looking vaguely annoyed. “No, he's the Doctor. He fell into a nest of vampire monkeys.” She said dryly. Then she giggled, “But that's another story!”

“Hang on, I think I want to hear that story.” River objected, finally looking up from whatever she was doing.

“Later.” Missy promised, shooting her a sideways look. She ran over just out of Clara's line of sight and cut the rope. 

“Oh!” The human fell quickly, just barely managing to catch herself before she face planted into the sand.

“Why does the Doctor always survive?” Missy asked, and Clara looked up. She was covered in sand and her hair was all in her face.

“Because he's clever.” Clara huffed, annoyed. The Doctor was clever - that's how he always managed to get out of trouble every time he got into it.

“Yes, but there are lots of clever dead people.” Missy said, turning to River. “I love killing clever clogs, they make the best faces.”

Clara rolled her eyes when the professor nodded in agreement.

“Besides,” River added, “there are times when being clever simply doesn't cut it.” She looked around them, taking in the sky overhead, full of screaming Daleks. “I'm afraid this is one of those times.”

Clara thought about it for a minute or two longer, and then she realized the answer. “He always assumes he's going to win.” She said quietly, climbing to her feet. “He always knows there's a way to survive. He just has to go and find it.”

“Yes, except this time, he made a will and threw himself a goodbye party.” Missy reminded them. “Now, if the Doctor assumes he's going to die, what happens then?”

“We do.”. Clara said, working hard to project the right amount of calm into her voice. There was something about the way the others were looking at each other that made her uneasy - like they were making a silent sort of pact.

“He's trapped at the heart of the Dalek empire. He's a prisoner of the creatures who hate him most in the universe. Between us and him is everything the deadliest race in all of history can throw at us.”. She looked down at the stick in her hand, looking almost disgusted with the words she was about to say. “We, on the other hand, have a pointy stick. How do we start?"

“We assume we're going to win.”

“Oh. Pity, really. I was actually quite peckish.” Her laughter sounded slightly hysterical - like she was steeling her nerves for what was to come.

Missy started to walk off across the desert, and Clara hurried to catch her. She fell into step next to her, eyeing the sharpened stick that the Time Lady still held on to.

“Can I have a stick too?” She asked hopefully.

“Make your own stick.” Missy muttered, trying to put as much space between herself and the others as possible.

River couldn't help but roll her eyes as the two women started bickering over sticks in the middle of the desert.

“This is what I have to work with.” She muttered under her breath, quickly dusting herself off before she began to follow the other two women. “Here we come sweetie.”


	8. Chapter 8

The Doctor was reeling. 

Clara was dead. Missy was dead. River was dead. The TARDIS was gone. He was alone in the middle of the Dalek empire, stranded on their home planet. Under normal circumstances, he would have already been halfway to saving the day. Of course, these weren’t anywhere near normal circumstances, because only one thought was stuck in his brain, circling on an endless loop.

River was dead. River Song had disappeared in a flash of light, and she was never coming back. His wife was dead.

There was a strange sort of buzzing in his ears, and everything seemed to be a bit fuzzy around the edges. He couldn’t seem to breathe properly - it was like a tight band was squeezing his chest, suffocating him.

He tried to focus in on his surroundings, remembering an old trick that he had learned back when he had first left the Time War, before he had met Rose and she had helped to chase away the pain. He looked around the room, picking out five things he could see - the window overlooking Skaro; the cables connecting Davros’ chair to the life-support machines; a table covered in spare parts in the corner; the glowing blue eye in the middle of Davros’ wrinkled forehead; and the wedding band on his finger. Next was four things he could feel - the slightly scratchy material of his trousers; the weight of his worn blue diary in the inner pocket of his jacket; the guitar pick that he couldn't help but play with half the time; the air current moving against his face. That was all he needed to do to calm himself down enough to realize that Davros was talking to him. He took the rest of his grief and anger and pushed it aside - he would deal with it later when he had the time to do so.

“It took me so very long to realize it was you, standing at the gates of my beginning.” Davros admitted, using some of the last of his strength to stare the Doctor in the eye. “And here you are at the end.”

Of course, he might have been rational enough to listen to Davros, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to respond to the madman's taunts. The Doctor whirled around, searching the room for anything that he could use as a weapon. His eyes fell on a table of spare parts and he lit up. In the middle of a particularly precarious pile of junk was a slightly bent, slightly rusted Dalek gun. He almost laughed at the irony of it - getting excited to see the very weapon that had killed his wife. He lunged for it even as Davros continued his monologue.

“But this time, I have you at my mercy. Exterminate.”

The Doctor pressed the gun to the back of Davros’ head, imagining just for a moment what it would feel like to fire it. To finally get rid of the creature that had created the worst monsters in the universe, once and for all. To get revenge. He knew it wasn't possible the moment he picked up the weapon - the gun was broken. But the bloodlust swept through him, the sort that he hadn't felt since running into the Daleks for the first time after the Time War - after the first time that they had taken everything from him.

And then he pulled the gun away in a single jerky movement.

“Ancient. Inoperable.” Davros croaked. That was what made the Doctor snap, in the end. Because that was him at the moment - ancient and unable to do anything except seethe with rage. But now he knew what he would do.

He fiddled with the controls until the gun powered back up in a flash of blue light.

“Genius.” the Doctor countered.

“You would threaten a dying man?” Davros asked, sounding almost amused - like he didn't believe that the Doctor would carry through with any threats that he made. “Have I not suffered enough?”

“Get out.” He hissed the words, his tone icy enough to freeze the desert planet that they were on.

“I cannot leave this chamber.” Davros said, confirming what the Doctor already suspected. “It sustains me.”

The Doctor rushed forward, pushing his way through the mass of wires surrounding Davros in order to threaten him properly. “Get out!” He roared, and Davros flinched.

8888

The Daleks were working on their parts of Davros’ latest plan when the alarms started going off all throughout the hospital. Lights flashed and klaxxons blared, sending the Daleks into overdrive. They all hurried to their stations, trying to decipher where the alarms were coming from.

One of the Daleks wheeled over to check the displays. “Alert! Alert! The infirmary is breached.”

The Dalek Supreme turned on the spot, issuing orders even as he spun. “Protect Davros. Davros must be assisted.”

They watched the progress of a red dot, tracking Davros’ movements as he made his way through the corridors. The blinking red dot moved through the schematic, drawing closer and closer. It turned, making its way through the halls.

“Davros is leaving the infirmary.” A Dalek informed the Supreme Dalek. Only the slightest twitch of the creature’s plunger arm betrayed it's nerves at the idea.

The Dalek Supreme turned in the direction of the door. “Davros must remain. Davros cannot leave.”

“My children! Help me!” Davros called. His robotic voice was panicked, sounding almost frightened.

“You must return to the infirmary.” The Dalek Supreme instructed.

“The Doctor is escaping.” Davros warned. “Find him. Find the Doctor.”

The Daleks started to panic at the news that their arch-enemy was on the loose. “Find the Doctor! Seek, locate, destroy!”

Entire battalions of Daleks flew out over Skaro, all of them searching for the Doctor. They started off close to the hospital, sure that he couldn’t have gotten far. When they didn’t find him nearby, they spread out their search, making their way throughout the city.

“Seek, locate, destroy. Seek, locate.” 

“Exterminate the Doctor!”

8888

They could hear the Daleks screaming from miles away, and all three of the women shied back towards the mountains just a bit. Even though they were too far to really do anything if the Daleks came too close and saw them, it still made them feel just a tiny bit better.

“Exterminate the Doctor!” came the call, echoing across the planet. “Exterminate!” 

“What's happening?” Clara asked, sounding nervous as she looked out over the city. She already had a vague idea of course - it was the Doctor and a planet full of Daleks. No matter what happened, it was bound to be bad.

“What do you think?” Missy asked, moving to stand next to the companion.

“He's in the middle of that?”

“Where else would the Doctor be?” River replied, with the long-suffering air of someone who already knew the answer to their own question.

Missy looked around, using their high vantage point to scan the terrain for anything useful. Her eyes lit up when she saw something, her mind quickly running through all the options of what it could be until she came across the right one. “Ah, that's what we need.” she cheered. She walked away, leaving the others staring out over the Dalek empire.

8888

The Dalek Supreme watched everything going on, keeping an eye on things from the dais it was perched on. 

Davros’ voice came through the speakers that had been set up between the infirmary and the main control room. “Assist me!”

“Davros approaches.” A Dalek bellowed.

“Admit Davros.” The Dalek Supreme commanded, spinning on the dais. “Admit the creator.”

“Help me!” he wailed. The Daleks sprung into action, doing whatever they could to help their creator.

“Assist Davros.” The Dalek Supreme ordered, sending another Dalek to check on the infirmary, just in case. “Assist.”

Even as Davros made his way up the corridor, a Dalek made its way to the infirmary, to check on the ancient creature and make sure that he wasn’t in there. What he saw took a few minutes to make it through the Dalek Hive Mind, but once it did, the Daleks were whipped into an even worse frenzy.

The control room doors opened, and every Dalek in the room turned to face them. There was a moment before anything happened, and then Davros’ chair rolled through the door. The Doctor sat at the controls, stone-faced even as he controlled the chair like a remote-controlled car.

“Admit it.” He said, a small smile curling up the sides of his mouth even though it came nowhere near his eyes. Said eyes were even icier than they normally appeared - a frozen glacier instead of a half-melted ice cube. “You've all had this exact nightmare.”

One of the Daleks pulled up the feed from the security cameras that were positioned in the infirmary, and the Doctor couldn’t help the small smirk that crossed his face at the image that came up. Davros laid on the floor, mechanical bits twitching away as if searching for a port to connect to - like strange, robotic parasites looking for a host. He had no body at all below the waist. His face was twisted up in a mask of displeasure as he lay there, twitching and screaming.

“Get me Sarff!”

He could hear the slight shifting sound that accompanied his head of security wherever he went. It took Davros a moment, but he was finally able to shift enough to see Sarff in his black-robed glory. “I am here.”

8888

“So, anyone for dodgems?” the Doctor practically growled out the words, his normally deep baritone somehow going even deeper. He knew exactly what it was, as well - the first edge of madness was creeping up on him. He had become like this in his last body as well, when he retired. With his entire family gone, he had retreated into the safety of his ship and mind, shunning the world until the mystery of Clara Oswald had come along to drag him back out. Now, even she was gone.

“Exterminate!” The Dalek Supreme ordered, and the others were quick to take up the call.

“Exterminate! Exterminate!” The words echoed around the room, an endless refrain. Dozens of Daleks turned to him, readying their guns.

They all fired on him at once, and for a brief second, he hoped that maybe - just maybe - this would be what finally killed him. That this would be the end of the Doctor.

Then, maybe he would have peace.


	9. Chapter 9

The two Time Ladies and Clara made their way deep into the mountains, using them as cover to keep themselves hidden from the Daleks flying above. There were a tense few minutes where they thought that they would get caught, but luckily they managed to stay hidden. Missy led them through the caverns hidden throughout the mountains, pulling up memories from the Time War to help her through them to find what she was looking for. Eventually, they found it - a large ten-foot wide hole in the ground.

They looked down into the hole, trying to see the bottom. There was nothing down there but endless inky blackness - the sort that seemed to ear up any sort of light.

“Daleks have sewers?” Clara asked, keeping one eye on the hole in front of her and the other one on the Time Ladies next to her. It was the first time that any of them had said anything since they entered the tunnels, and the way her voice echoed off of the walls made her jump slightly.

“With one significant difference.” Missy said, and Clara was slightly worried - the blank mask of calmness that the mad Time Lady wore was nerve-racking. It was almost as bad as the way River’s head was on an almost constant swivel, like she was waiting for something to jump out and attack them.

“Being?” Clara asked. She had expected an almost Doctor-esque answer - some sort of rambling, drawn out thing about how they were constructed, or what was kept in them. Instead, Missy's answer was short and to the point.

“They're ever so slightly alive.”

Clara took a quick second to make sure that she had heard Missy correctly before she said anything. “They're what?”

She ignored the question, instead giving one of her own. “How much of a drop would you say that is?” Missy asked, tilting her head to the side slightly as she looked down into the hole. “Can you see the bottom?”

She checked again, putting her hands on her knees as she bent over. There was no way that she could possibly make out anything farther than three feet into the hole. “Too dark.” she decided. “Er, we could chuck a stone down, or something.” she offered. Clara took a second to look around, searching the area for a stone big enough to make a loud impact, but still small enough to be easily carried.

“Oh yeah, good idea.” Missy said nonchalantly, nodding. She reached out, moving to push one of them into the pit - she was aiming for one in particular, but either one would do.

River sidestepped, and Clara got pushed into the pit instead. “Oh!” she cried out as she fell into the pit, arms and legs flailing. 

Missy was surprised, sure that the ickle wifey had the same sort of hero complex that the Doctor did - the sort that would have had her falling to her death instead of the tiny wide-eyed one. She was almost impressed - maybe the romantic subplot wasn't as tame as she had thought.

River raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed as she gave Missy a once-over. “And here I thought we had just skipped the trying to kill each other stage.” she purred, but there was a hard glint in her eyes that was enough to make even a Dalek nervous. 

Luckily for Missy, she had a bit more spine than a Dalek.

“I figured I'd give it a go anyway, dearie.” Missy replied, smiling unrepentantly as she listened to Clara scream as she fell. Once she heard the thud that signaled that the human had hit the bottom, her smile grew wider. She quickly did the math in her head. “Twenty feet.” Missy decided.

“After you.” River offered, with honey in her voice and a dangerous grin on her face. Missy considered her for a moment before she did as asked, jumping down after Clara.

8888

The control room was quieter than any room full of deadly creatures had a right to be. They all almost seemed to be in awe, while the Doctor was almost upset, but had hidden that behind a blank mask. His plan had worked, but his hopes for a quick death had been shot.

He picked up his cup and saucer from where he had left them sitting on the controls of Davros’ chair, being careful not to spill it - the last thing that he needed was to fry the only thing keeping him alive. “Of course,” he began, taking a cautious sip. “the real question is, where did I get the cup of tea?” He mused, even as he placed the cup back in it's saucer. “Answer? I'm the Doctor. Just accept it.”

“You are unharmed.” The Dalek whirred. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn that it sounded almost pleased.

“Proposition.” he said, his voice echoing around the stark white room. “Davros is an insane, paranoid genius who has survived among several billion trigger-happy mini-tanks for centuries.” he smirked - as long as he kept their attention on him, that gave him time to come up with a plan. Unfortunately for him, he still didn't have even the slightest idea of what that plan was going to be. “Conclusion? I'm definitely having his chair.”

“You cannot escape, Doctor.” He smirked at that - he didn’t need to escape. He only needed time. He raised the gun that he had liberated from the table in Davros’ infirmary, keeping it aimed at the Supreme Dalek in front of him. There was no hesitation, no shaky hands - nothing but pure rage. “I'm guessing his personal forcefield only works in one direction.”

“The Doctor does not use weapons.” the Dalek Supreme repeated his old mantra. It had served him well for years, that pacifist philosophy. He had traveled the cosmos for centuries solving all sorts of problems without using a gun, and it had never once failed him. But now, he thought, he might find a reason to.

“Doesn't he?” The Doctor challenged, baring his teeth when the Daleks whirred nervously. “Ah, listen to your little hearts beat!” he crowed.

8888

Clara took a deep breath in, hissing slightly when it became apparent that the fall had knocked the wind out of her. She struggled to sit up, and that was when she saw her.

Missy stood over her, her head tilted slightly to one side and purple skirts moving slightly. Her eyes were wide, and her smile was just slightly too big to be anything but threatening. “Hello.” she said, her voice chipper. 

Her eyes caught on something familiar, barely visible inside dark cave. Clara lunged for the stick on the ground, clutching it tightly enough that her arm trembled slightly. 

Missy pouted at her. “Oh, poppet." She breathed. "Do you really think you could?” She asked, and Clara bared her teeth in a fearsome smile.

“First chance I get.” She swore.

She snorted, taking a moment to check that her hair hadn't fallen out of it's complicated twist - driving in her point that Clara wasn't much of a threat. “You won’t survive down here on your own.”

“You won't survive turning your back.” Clara threatened in return. She shakily climbed to her feet, keeping the stick aimed at Missy's face.

The mad Time Lady looked surprised by the amount of venom in Clara's voice. “Ooo.” She murmured, sounding thrilled with the prospect. “How exciting.”

Missy turned around slowly, hands in the air like she was surrendering - daring her to do it. Clara just stared at her, confusion warring with anger on her face. “God, you're dull.” Missy sighed. She spun on her heel, moving quickly enough to grab the stick out of Clara's hand without giving the human a chance to stab her.

“In the future, if you're going to take my stick, do me the courtesy of actually killing me. Teamwork is all about respect.” She lectured, sounding as if she had first heard the idea on a children's television show.

Clara looked repulsed by the idea. “We're not a team.” she shot back. She and the Doctor were a team, flying about and saving the universe. River and the Doctor were a team that flirted a lot and did other things that she didn't want to think about. But she and Missy were definitely not a team.

“Of course we are.”. Missy cooed. “Every miner needs a canary.” She paused for a second as River jumped done to join them. “You certainly took your time.” she noted.

“And it's a good thing I did.” The archaeologist replied, sounding slightly smug and out of breath. She straightened up, running a hand through her hair to try and take the curls that had managed to escape the ponytail that she had stuck them in - only to curse when she realized that the ponytail holder had snapped at some point. “We were followed.” 

It was then that the others noticed the still smoking gun in her hand. “How many of them?”. Missy asked. She had dropped any sort of levity, looking grave.

“Two or three.” She shrugged. “I took care of them.” She smirked. “Wasn't anything too difficult.”

Missy took a second to process that, before dismissing it to think about later. “Now hush, look around. Bit of a mess, isn't it?”

“You said it was a sewer.” She accused. Both Clara and River took in the tunnels - they were caked in some sort of disgusting goo, but other than that they were relatively clean. 

“If it's a sewer,” River began, even as she pulled out her PDA and began to scan the area, “then why is it so clean?”

“Daleks don't generate much in the way of waste.”

“So what is it all, then?” Clara asked. She looked around, taking in the tunnel around them.

“Decaying Daleks.” Missy answered. She took a moment to relish the confused look on both of their faces, before explaining properly. “Daleks can't die. Genetically hard-wired to keep on living, whatever happens. Well. But they still age, poor loves.”

“Over time, the body breaks down, rots, liquefies.” She continued, using the same sort of tone that Clara would use when lecturing to her students - interested, but like she had already said the same words five hundred times before and so knew it all by heart. She poked at the bits of Dalek covering the walls, and River watched in fascination even as Clara pulled back a bit, half expecting them to explode. “Interestingly, the Dalek word for sewer is the same as their word... for graveyard.”

She stabbed a piece of whatever it was on the wall, and a shrill noise came out of it. That noise quickly spread until the walls were covered in screaming things, and it was only then that Clara really pieced together what they were.

A little half-smile formed on Missy's face as she listened to the sweet symphony of half-mad Daleks.

8888

“Ask me what I want.” The Doctor asked, wheeling a bit forward as he kept the Dalek gun aimed at the Dalek Supreme.

“Irrelevant.” The Dalek Supreme argued. “You will not prevail. You will not succeed.”

“I've been at the heart of your empire for forty two minutes, and I own it, and I haven't even got out of my chair.” The Doctor replied - not even boasting, just simply stating facts. “Ask me what I want.”

“What do you want?” the Dalek whirred.

“River Song.”

The words echoed slightly as he broadcast them - through the sterile white room, through the Dalek citadel, through all of Skaro. It even managed to reach them in the sewers.

 

“I want River Song - safe, alive, and returned to me immediately.” He gave his demands, listing them off like he was doing nothing more than reading off a grocery list. “You bring her back. You do that. You do that now. Unharmed. Unhurt. Alive.”

 

“Your associate -” the Dalek Supreme began, but the Doctor cut him off.

 

“I saw what happened.” He spat the words out, keeping a white-knuckled grip on the gun in his hands. If that wasn't enough to tell the Daleks how far gone he was, then he didn't know what to tell them. “I saw what you did to her. I was there. And I'm hoping, for all of our sakes, that it was a trick.”

The creature stared at him with what he could have sworn was smug amusement. “It was not a deception.” the Dalek Supreme intoned, and he felt the first very real flicker of fear run down his spine. 

“Because if River Song is really dead,” he said quietly, “then you'd better be very, very careful how you tell me.”

8888 

They had all paused in their tracks as soon as the Doctor’s voice came over the speakers, echoing off of the walls of the sewers. He started out shouting, his voice echoing, spitting mad. But as he kept going, they all heard it happen - the slow loss as the hope seeped from his voice. His tone became almost despondent

“Listen to that.” Missy trilled, sounding equal parts amazed and terrified. “The Doctor without hope.”

His voice echoed. “Who's going to tell me?”

“Nobody is safe now.” Missy whispered, looking like she was hearing a completely new side of her friend, one never seen before. Normally, any sort of rage from the Doctor would have her nostalgic and happy. But this - this was enough to make even the Mistress nervous. This wasn't passionate rage, or even a righteous fury. This was cold, and dead - like he had nothing left to lose. 

Because as far as he knew, he didn't.

8888

 

“All the power Davros had is mine.” He rumbled. He drove the chair around the room, his permanently cross eyebrows even crosser than usual.

 

“Everything he had, I have.” His voice echoed around the room, low and foreboding in a way that had the Daleks rolling back and forth nervously. And miles away, deep in the sewers of Skaro, three women listened to his every word, five hearts pounding in three chests.

“Who's going to tell me that River Song is really dead?” the words echoed off of the sewer walls, bouncing around and burrowing into their minds. All of his rage and fear were missing from his voice, leaving him empty and cold.

“He'll burn everything.” Missy whispered, sounding both awed and terrified. “Us too.”

 

“Well then,” River replied, her eyes suspiciously bright even as she checked to make sure that her gun had survived the sewers intact so far. Missy wrinkled her nose - she remembered the days when the Doctor was repulsed by the mere thought of a gun. It was almost disappointing that it hadn't been her to get him used to them. “We'll just have to stop him.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure if I should leave this as a one- shot, or if I should turn it into a series that contains the rest of the Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar, or maybe even the rest of series 9. Let me know either way!


End file.
